Oyster lovers become oyster farmers

Alan Link, of Bremerton, empties a cage of oysters onto the beach as community supported agriculture members and volunteers take part in the harvest Friday at the Port Madison Community Shellfish Farm on the Bloedel Reserve tidelands on Bainbridge Island.

Bainbridge Island residents Bob and Carolyn Tull help sort oysters during the harvest Friday at the Port Madison Community Shellfish Farm on the Bloedel Reserve tidelands on Bainbridge Island.

An oyster is past between harvesters Friday at the Port Madison Community Shellfish Farm.

Ronan McCafferty, 13, of Bainbridge Island, counts oysters as he bags them Friday during the harvest.

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND — It's harvest time at the only oyster farm in Puget Sound where the customers also are the harvesters.

A dozen people, ages 2 to around 75, crouch over piles of oysters they pulled from sacks in Port Madison Bay. They pluck out the ripe 3-inchers as they debate the best way to cook them. Many like them baked or grilled "just until they pop open." The younger ones prefer them breaded and deep fried. A few say they're best raw with a squeeze of lemon or dab of horseradish.

Linda Heys has a monosyllabic recipe for her oysters.

"Sssslllurp!" she said. "That's it."

Operating since 2010, the Port Madison Community Shellfish Farm produces between 1,200 to 1,500 oysters for its 70 members each year.

The farm is a community supported agriculture program — commonly known as a CSA, and most often used by small, land-based farms. The basic idea: You buy a share and get a portion of the harvest. Depending on the week, a typical CSA share might be a box filled with lettuce, kale, eggs, raspberries and maybe more kohlrabi than you know what to do with.

"We're really the first to do this with oysters," said Josh Bouma, a shellfish biologist with Bainbridge Island-based Puget Sound Restoration Fund, which runs the CSA program. "At first, we had just six people and now we're at capacity."

Members help sort, bag, tag and ice the oysters. The basic share of two dozen oysters from each of the five annual harvests costs $100. It adds up to just enough for the farm to break even each year.

Paul Zitarelli bought the biggest share available — six dozen oysters delivered five times a year.

"It's a really good excuse to have a party," he said. "I moved to Bainbridge a couple of years ago but most of my friends still live in Seattle. This is a good way to entice them over."

It's also a good way to show his 2-year-old daughter, Lenna, that there's more to food than a stop at the grocery store.

"This is a rare opportunity to connect to what we eat," he said.

Bloedel Reserve, a 150-acre public garden on the island's north end, hosts the small oyster raising operation on its beach. Kept in rows of plastic mesh "grow bags," the oysters have spent about two years here. During that time, each oyster filtered about 20 gallons of water per day.

"They clean the sound and raise people's consciousness at the same time," farm member Jim Tusler said.

That's exactly what Betsy Peabody likes to hear from members. Peabody, PSRF's executive director, started the farm as a way to get more people ankle-deep in the Sound and eating food directly from its waters. Once that's accomplished, they naturally become converts to the cause.

"They will fight for these places and fight to maintain clean water," she said.

A generation ago, people plucked shellfish from Kitsap's shores with little concern for paralytic shellfish poisoning and other health risks. These days, beach closures are commonplace thanks to fecal bacteria seeping from septic systems or pouring from sewer outfalls.

The farm's shellfish are tested for contamination once a month by the Kitsap Public Health District. Spikes in paralytic shellfish poisoning have occasionally forced the farm to delay harvests.

PSRF is using fresh oysters to lure shoreline homeowners into getting their septic systems checked. Proof of a healthy checkup earns a sack of oysters.

While PSRF would like to expand the clean septic reward and CSA programs, its beach-use agreement with Bloedel and the West Port Madison neighborhood caps the farm at 100 grow bags.

"Space is limited because folks don't necessarily want to see commercial aquaculture on their beach," Bouma said. "But this does show it can be done."

Bouma's received calls from groups wanting to start oyster CSA programs in California and Connecticut.

For some oyster CSA members, the experience has inspired them to grow their own oysters. Bob Lane, who lives on Port Madison, plans to boost his supply with a little oyster garden on his beach.

"Now I'm an oyster snob," he said. "When they're raw, they're so salty, briny, fresh — not fishy at all. I can't have them any other way."